Signs banned after Lewisville ISD investigates 'White Power' placards

The Lewisville Independent School District's interim superintendent announced Friday that signs will no longer be allowed at Flower Mound High School sporting events following the district's completed investigation into ‘White Power' signs that were seen at a recent varsity boys basketball game.

Flower Mound was playing against Plano East Senior High School, and the signs quickly drew controversy after a photo of them went viral on social media.

Lewisville ISD Interim Superintendent Dr. Kevin Rogers said in a statement Friday that students have been known to hold up signs that read "Navy & White" and "Jaguar Power," representing the school's colors and a mascot cheer.

Rogers said that an "inappropriate ordering" of the signs had been held up at the Feb. 13 game by a student for no more than 30 seconds.

However, Rogers didn't specify whether or not the ordering of the signs had been held up intentionally.

"LISD has taken prompt and significant action to address this situation utilizing our Student Code of Conduct and working in tandem with the Flower Mound Police Department," Rogers said in the statement. "The district is not at liberty to share the actions taken regarding our current student due to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act."

Rogers added that rumors that the student section was chanting "White power" at the game were not true. In addition to cheerleading signs being prohibited at future school sports events, Rogers said that an in-depth review of procedures and athletes' conduct is being done.

Rogers also said that the day of the game, a current Flower Mound student and a former Lewisville ISD student were kicked out of a Flower Mound soccer game for inappropriate behavior. Afterward, the former Lewisville ISD student defecated on a Plano Independent School District bus that was in the parking lot. Police have opened a criminal mischief investigation into that incident.

"I want to be clear the intolerable behavior these two individuals modeled has not and will not be accepted in LISD," Rogers said. "We have always had high expectations for our students and hold them to those standards both in and outside of the classroom. Again, I am disheartened that the actions of these two individuals have reflected poorly on FMHS, LISD and our diverse communities."

A boys basketball rematch game was held Friday night between Flower Mound and Plano East, and extra security was on hand.

As a way to show that there was no bad blood between the players, both teams wore bright yellow shirts that read, "Where there's unity, there's victory" during the pregame.

Students at Friday's game from both schools weighed in on the sign incident.

"Hopefully it'll be kind of a wake-up call for administrators," said Plano East senior David Hoffman. "It really didn't seem like their student section was really maintained. There was a lot of language directed at our players, so hopefully this will be a wake-up call for schools to keep their student sections in line better."

"I think it was a mix of poor judgment or bad timing," said Flower Mound senior Brooke Wallace. "I don't know the kids who did it personally or the motives behind it, but it was blown really out of proportion.